The Phubbing Phenomenon

phubbing [ fuhb-ing ] noun  1. the act of snubbing someone to look at your phone

Even if you’re not familiar with the term “phubbing”, you can probably instantly relate to it. We’ve all been phubbed by a friend, and we’ve all phubbed a few people in our days. In fact, phubbing has become a phenomenon that snuck up on us when we didn’t even realize it. We’re just so conditioned to pick up our phones and start scrolling whenever there is an idle moment, even when we’re with people that we really care about. It’s pretty annoying when it happens to you, and it’s highly likely you’ve annoyed someone by doing it to them. 

Just picture it… you’re trying to chat with a friend who isn’t really paying attention to you because they've been looking at their phone. You had specifically set aside that night to hang with them, but so far you’ve only said about 5 sentences to each other because their phone has not stopped buzzing. You’re not really mad because, let’s be honest, you’ve been guilty of phubbing people before. But what should you do? Do you call them out? Or do you wait patiently for them to finally look up?

#StopPhubbing

We’re here to say that we should call each other out for phubbing. We shouldn’t have to fight for our friends’ attention when we’re sitting right across the table from each other. We shouldn’t have to trend on Twitter to get them to listen to what we’re saying. So, the next time you find yourself being phubbed by a friend, call them out with the hashtag #StopPhubbing. Say it out loud. Text it to ‘em. Tweet ‘em. DM ‘em. Just be sure to call it out because awareness is step #1. Join us in our #StopPhubbing campaign so we can put down our phones and enjoy each other IRL.

To kick off our quest to #StopPhubbing we’ll be celebrating National Day of Unplugging on Sunday March 7th. The Palm Crew will be at Dolores Park in San Francisco this Sunday from 2-4 pm, giving out free ice cream and swag. So if you’re in the Bay Area, come unplug with us, enjoy some fresh air and help us #StopPhubbing.